Registration is now open for TOUCHSTONE RETREATS Fall Programs

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR FALL 2023 PROGRAMS!

GEOGRAPHY OF THE WILD HEART:
Mapping our Inner Constellations
A weekly creative (writing & art-making) retreat series to renew and restore
with Lisa Kagan and Margaret Hartsook

“Sometimes everything has to be inscribed across the heavens, so you can find the one line already written inside you. Sometimes it takes a great sky to find that first, bright and indescribable wedge of freedom in your own heart.”
– David Whyte (excerpt from “The Journey”)

We invite you to join us in creative community as we enter into the autumn season. This weekly “mini retreat” series offers you the chance to step away from the demands of daily life and to connect more deeply with your own inner points of light as we move towards the winter solstice and the darker time of the year. Each weekly session is an invitation, through writing and art, to cultivate a personal cartography of hope and resilience through engaging in the creative process. Like the stars in the night sky, we will illuminate our internal landscapes through a variety of mixed media techniques and materials including painting, drawing, collage, mask making, image transfer, and sculpture. This weekly retreat series offers you a chance to kindle your creative spark and cultivate new ways of enriching your imagination while nourishing yourself in the supportive, uplifting company of other women.

This program offers space for creative expression for women and those who identify as female of all ages and backgrounds. No writing or art experience is necessary. All art materials, as well as snacks and tea, will be provided.

Dates & Times: Mondays 6:30pm-9pm on October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 and November 6, 13, 27 (Skipping November 20th)

Location: Studio of the Imagination located at Margaret’s home in SE Portland (the Creston neighborhood)

Program Fee: $390
Art Materials Fee: $35
Total fee: $425

Registration: For more information or if you would like to register for this program, please contact Lisa at: Lisa@FamilyHeirloomArts.com or at 503.347.1391. Due to the limited number of participants we can accommodate, early registration is recommended. Visit our event page for more information.

THE ELEMENTAL SELF:
Finding Center through Writing & Altar Making
A full day retreat with Lisa Kagan and Dawn Thomspson

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
– Howard Thurman

As humans, it can be easy to forget that we too are part of the natural world, in constant kinship with the trees, streams, stones and birds. At times when we feel distanced from our true nature, we can return to our center by connecting with our elemental self, which dwells at the intersection of the natural environment and the lush living world of our own inner landscape. How does the fiery energy within us wish to express itself? What happens when we practice flowing like water? What are the stories the rocks and mountains of our inner history wish to tell and how can these stories guide us? Through writing and altar making, utilizing painting, drawing, collage, and natural materials from the magnificent Oregon forest, you’ll have the chance to connect with your elemental self this fall. This soulful and inspiring day in the beauty of the natural world also offers you a chance to deeply nourish yourself with a delicious lunch, a beautiful retreat setting and the supportive, uplifting company of other women.

This retreat offers space for creative expression for women and those who identify as female of all ages and backgrounds. No writing or art experience is necessary. All art materials will be provided.

Dates & Times:
Sunday, October 15, 2023, 10am-5:30pm (This is a full day retreat)

Location:
Alton L. Collins Conference & Retreat Center
“Surrounded by giant fir and cedar, lush fern and abundant moss covered vine maple, the Alton L. Collins Conference & Retreat Center near Eagle Creek, Oregon provides an environment and facilities conducive to study and reflection, relaxation and recreation…Trails take you through the woods and along the streams that meander around the grounds.”

A professional chef specializes in using fresh, local produce to create meals that are truly culinary works of art. This retreat includes lunch.

Costs:
Retreat Program Fee  & Lunch: $210
Art Materials: $20
Total Cost: $230

Registration:
Payment is due at the time of sign up. Registration and payment is made through Alton L. Collins Retreat & Conference Center. Click here to register. Visit our event page for more information or if you have questions about the retreat, please contact Dawn at: dawnrenethompson@gmail.com or 503.568.6145.

 

WRITNG FROM CENTER
A SECOND MONDAY OF THE MONTH WRITING DEVOTION
November 2023-June 2024
with Dawn Thompson

“The magic of writing practice is you start where you are – observing, remembering, listening – and this simple act of being where you are leads, inevitably, to a place you didn’t know you needed to go to, but in following the thread you go a little deeper into understanding.”
– Erin Lee Gafill (“Drinking from a Cold Spring: A Little Book of Hope”)

These days, we all long for connection. Connection with our deeper self and connection with one another. Devoting yourself to a writing practice is a powerful way to foster connection with the larger human story, with your personal stories and with your capacity for creation, vision and inner peace. The page is a room of your own where you can listen for parts of yourself that are calling, where you have space to contemplate your lived experience and where you can access the compass of your poetic heart. In this monthly retreat series, inspiring prompts are provided as doorways into the writing. These prompts invite your critical mind to step aside in order to allow the great wisdom of your authentic voice and your imagination to rise to the surface. When you write in community and have the opportunity to listen to other women’s stories, you enter the encouraging realm of our shared humanity. You gather essential tools as a writer and receive the medicine of being deeply heard. In community, your writing becomes stronger, more honest, full of vision and heart. This writing retreat series offers space for creative expression for women and those who identify as female of all ages and backgrounds. No previous writing experience is necessary.

Dates: 11/13, 12/11 (2023), 1/8, 2/12, 3/11, 4/8, 5/13, 6/10 (8 weeks)
Time: 10:00am-12:15pm
Location: Kitty’s home, NE Portland
Cost: $220

Registration: To register or for more information, please contact Dawn Thompson at: dawnrenethompson@gmail.com or 503.568.6145. Learn more about this program here.

 

SAVE THE DATE!
Join us for our annual EMERGENCE RETREAT (a full weekend retreat)
Alton Collins Retreat Center
March 15th-17th, 2024
More details coming soon…